“We're ecstatic,” said Fox Tech Principal Dawn Parker. “I'm waiting until the end of the day to celebrate it with staff and I think staff and students are going to be excited and thrilled.”

The recognition is given annually to schools for either overall academic performance or for making progress in improving student achievement levels. Fox Tech received the award for improving student achievement and had been told it would get the award if students met federal “adequate yearly progress” standards, which require an ever-increasing number of students to pass state standardized tests, Parker said.

“Schools honored with the National Blue Ribbon Schools award are committed to accelerating student achievement and preparing students for success in college and careers,” said U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in the news release.

This is the third year in a row that Fox Tech has met AYP standards, Parker said, attributing the success to honest communication among educators, a change in the school's culture and a cadre of local partnerships that make its magnet programs engaging.

Fox Tech, along with a handful of other schools in San Antonio, received federal School Improvement Grants in 2010 after being deemed “persistently low-achieving” by the federal government. Promising a turnaround, the school was awarded $4.3 million and set to work on a plan it had started years before: to become a stand-alone law and health professions magnet school.

The federal grant's impact nationwide has been questioned, as school results vary widely. At Fox Tech, sophomores posted double-digit gains in almost every test area this past year, according to results released this summer. But 11th-graders lost ground in every subject area — raising doubts about the grant's impact on students not enrolled in its magnet program.

Last year's freshmen and sophomores were required to meet academic and attendance standards to be accepted into the school, while juniors and seniors represented the traditional high school and its problems.

While Parker acknowledged a larger gap in the academic ability of the school's older students and the shock they weathered after the school ended its historic football program, she said the work of dedicated teachers is leveling the playing field.

“I think we've done a good job in trying to bridge those gaps and this year you're going to see tremendous gains from them,” Parker said of the older students.